Results from the mango breeding and scion evaluation programme.
Human C. F., Swanepoel J. F., Rheeder S.
Author Affiliation: Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Crops, Private Bag X11208, Nelspruit 1200, South Africa.
: 84-89
Abstract : Local mango plantings consist mainly of five commercial cultivars. Due to numerous problems with these cultivars, the search is on for new cultivars to replace them. In a trial planted by the ARC-ITSC from 1992 to 1998, various promising selections were evaluated and compared with commercial cultivars. Trees of 52 cultivars and selections included in this trial were assessed for yield, fruit size and internal fruit quality. Each cultivar/selection was grafted on Sabre and Peach as rootstock. Characteristics such as yield and fruit size of the genotypes included in the trial differed significantly. Preliminary results indicate that several genotypes outperform commercial cultivars regarding yield, but most of these high yielding genotypes have negative characteristics such as alternate bearing patterns or small fruit size. Considering yield and fruit size, Neldica is an ARC-ITSC bred cultivar which proved to be a consistent performer. Approximately 6000 seeds for the breeding programme have been collected the past season for the production of trees to be included in the Phase I evaluation trials. Currently about 35 promising selections have been topworked for further evaluation.